[CoolHandJean]

What exercises/sports do you do round the yard with your dog? I know many people do flirtpole and springpoles, and there is always fetch. But, Are there any other fun exercises/sports/activities the common person can do on their own property to get their dog moving around? If so, what? Does it need any kind of set-up?

[CoolHandJean]

Bump

[panda]

Ok, well don't laugh, but I play chase with Panda. She loves to chase me and I also chase her around the backyard......... of course we do tennis balls, jolly ball, rope tug, etc., too. I just got her a flirt pole and need to learn how to use it. Sorry, kind of a boring answer.........

[CoolHandJean]

not boring. Any answer is good...Yeah, sometimes I play chase with Tess...

[Sassy Girl]

Our dogs compete in a few different sports and w/that comes not only training in those specific sports but also cross training to keep them in shape and ready for competition.

Our dogs utilize the following to stay in tip top shape...
Treadmill
Hiking
Walks w/doggy backpacks
Pillates ball work
Frisbee
Swimming
Biking/Skateboard Pulling
Massage (I'm studying to be a canine massage therapist so this helps both of us)
Springpole
Flirtpole
Basic Obedience/Trick Training

[CoolHandJean]

what does the Pillates ball work consist of?

[Sassy Girl]

The pilates ball helps your dog work from it's core, strengthening and stretching the muscles.

[littledozer24]

I'm curious what your dogs do with the pilates ball. We have 2 in our house and Lugz (cutie that he is) pushed one of the pilates balls our living room from the bedroom the other day. It was quite cute but we are always trying to find ways to get rid of his excess energy in fun ways especially when it is cold outside and he and I don't get to jog/walk.

[Sassy Girl]

The pilates work is low impact stretching and conditioning. If you have extra energy you need to run off, I'd do it before working the ball otherwise you have dog too bouncy to concentrate.

Here are some examples of the pilates ball work we do w/our dogs...from the pics you can't see all the stretches but gives you a good idea of some of the positions. Twizzy is a wonderful demo dog....excuse me in the pics as I had just had major surgery on my ankle (three breaks that needed 13 pins and a plate),

[littledozer24]

Thanks for the pics. We are always looking for new things to do with Lugz. Besides his normal routine; tonight at first to work his mind; we took one of his tennis balls and put it under a cookie tin that he couldn't seem to get turned back over. After about 2 or 3 minutes and several attempts, he figured out how to get the tin flipped over so that he could get his ball. After he got the ball the first time, he could flip that tin in a matter of seconds. Then we worked on trying to catch the ball, this one needs a lot of work.